52 LETTER III. 



one style {Jig. '■2.), which ends in a stigma, so small 

 that it cannot be discovered without a microscope 



The fruit of the Myrtle is a purple berry, so like 

 a Fuchsia berry on the outside that you might mis- 

 take the one for the other ; but it has only three cells, 

 instead of four, and has a strong aromatic taste, of 

 which the Fuchsia is entirely destitute. 



You wall, after reading this, ask me, perhaps, with 

 surprise, what resemblance I can discover between 

 the Myrtle and the Evening Primrose tribe ; for it 

 seems difficult to select two objects more unlike. I 

 answer thus — although the Myrtle itself is not very 

 like an Evening Primrose, yet there are many of the 

 Myrtle tribe, which, having only four divisions of the 

 calyx, and four petals, might be mistaken for plants 

 belonging to the Evening Primrose tribe, for they 

 have an inferior berry, like that of a Fuchsia ; you 

 would however see that the number four could 

 not be traced further than the petals, and conse- 

 quently, the resemblance would cease with these parts. 



The Myrtle tribe, like the last natural order, 

 abounds in beautiful plants ; it also contains many 

 that are of great use. The spice you call Cloves, con- 

 sists of the young flower-buds of a tree found in the 

 East Indies (Caryophyllus aromaticus) ; and Allspice 

 is the berries of a West Indian species (Myrtus Pi- 

 menta.) The pleasant fruits called the Rose Apple, and 

 the Jamrosade, in the East Indies, are produced by dif- 

 ferent kinds of Eugenia ; Guava Jelly is prepared from 

 the succulent berries of trees of the Myrtle Tribe, found 



